Flood Mapping Using Combined Sentinel-1 Amplitude and Interferometric Coherence

IEEE India Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (InGARSS), pp. 1–4

Abstract

Synthetic Aperture Radar has become an operational tool for near-real-time flood mapping, crucial for policymakers and disaster planners around the world. However, it faces challenges in dry, sandy areas where water and land have similar backscatter characteristics, rendering traditional amplitude-based methods ineffective. This study introduces an approach to overcome these limitations by combining the amplitude and coherence information from SAR for flood detection in arid regions. Focusing on a case study in Ormara, Pakistan, we demonstrate that this method substantially enhances flood mapping accuracy in challenging terrain. Our results reveal a $\mathbf{2 5 \%}$ improvement in accuracy compared to amplitude-only information. This advancement improves our ability to map floods in dry arid environments, potentially improving disaster response and mitigation in dry arid regions.

Authors 6

1. Shagun Garg

   University of Cambridge

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Cambridge,Department of Engineering,Cambridge,United Kingdom

2. Antara Dasgupta Aachen Faculty of Civil Engineering

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University,Faculty of Civil Engineering,Aachen,Germany

3. Mahdi Motagh

   GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences

   Affiliation as printed

   Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics GFZ Potsdam,Potsdam,Germany

4. Sandro Martinis

   Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR)

   Affiliation as printed

   German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) German Aerospace Center (DLR),Oberpfafenhofen,Germany

5. Edoardo Borgomeo

   University of Cambridge

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Cambridge,Department of Engineering,Cambridge,United Kingdom

6. Sivasakthy Selvakumaran

   University of Cambridge

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Cambridge,Department of Engineering,Cambridge,United Kingdom